Threat
by tortuga23
Summary: SEE NEW STORY, DEADWALK. SAME THING, but MAKES SENSE ACTUALLY. This one will just be here, but I am going to put all the new stuff on the other. Sorry for the confusion!!!!!
1. NOTICE

Okay, sorry guys, but I just discovered a major plot loop. So this story is currently under construction, for maybe a couple days. It'll be up and renewed by then, along with a few more chapters if I can manage it. In the meantime, write more fanfiction! Some of the stuff you guy's have written has been really good! And troublegirl's story is quite good, I recommend hers for a D/S fic. Thanks! 


	2. NOTICE

She adopted, as she always thought she would. A fifteen year old package of molten fury with curly, white-blonde hair and a temper that rivaled Dylan's own. She knew she needed some kind of family that she could count on not to shoot her off a window, jump of a boat, or try several times to kill. She felt that she had finally figured out that family isn't just a dependable boyfriend. And so Leah became part of her family, joining Alex, Bosley, and Natalie.  
  
But there was still Shaemus to deal with. She testified at his trial, but this time she didn't change her name. While he was still a threat, she still knew she could deal with him. And for the next ten years, he would be behind bars and out of her way, almost as if he were really dead. But after ten years, she'd have him on her mind again.  
  
She knew that being an Angel, she would have enemies. She also knew it would be dangerous to have a daughter because Leah would have to watch her back all the time. But she knew Leah could do it, she'd had her share of tough times. But more than that, Leah could be considered a weakness, and Dylan didn't want it to be that way. So she educated her.  
  
"Leah, there's someone who could be a serious threat to your life that I really want you to know about."  
  
Leah yawned and rested her head on her hands.  
  
"Just like the last twenty guys?"  
  
"Yeah, but this guy's different. He actually came close."  
  
Leah laughed. "Really? Just how close?"  
  
"He almost killed me, and he would have if things hadn't turned out like they had…" She trailed off, trying not to remember the Thin Man's sacrifice, his kiss, his death…  
  
"But why'd he get so close? Why did he get so much farther than everyone else?"  
  
"Because I loved him."  
  
Intrigued, Leah sat up, her eyes wide with curiosity. "Really? Tell me more."  
  
No matter how many stories she told, how many pictures she showed her, she could not get Leah to grasp how dangerous he really was. Leah assumed that the only reason he'd gotten close was because of Dylan's previous love for him, she didn't know that that wasn't the whole part. He could kill her even if she didn't love, or hate, him. But Leah's confidence did not help her in this instance. It took a lot of doing to convince Leah that she, nor most people could not hold her own against Shaemus O'Grady without help. She didn't want her getting cocky about her skills.  
  
But she still thought that she needed to show Leah what she might be up against. The question was, how? She was going to visit Shaemus in prison anyway, as a way of tying up loose ends and testing how bitter he was. She'd bring Leah, and she'd watch from a distance. Then she could judge for herself how dangerous Shaemus was.  
  
Of course she didn't want Shaemus knowing she had a daughter. It would give him ten years to plan how he'd play on her weaknesses, destroy her life again. She wasn't going to let him have all the facts, at least not from her, if she could help it. But she knew Leah had to see for herself.  
  
***  
  
"Cleared. You can go in, Ms. Sanders. Booth five, he's there waiting."  
  
She could feel his eyes following her, but this time, she was glad. He wouldn't notice the 'Leah Sanders, you've been cleared. Go on in.' behind her. But he didn't miss everything. He watched her sit down, watched her gingerly pick up the telephone so that she could talk to him through the thick glass.  
  
Looking him over, she knew he'd been working out in his cell again. If anything, he looked more furious than before. He was wearing one of those prison uniforms, but only the pants. His chest was bare, she figured out of intimidation. His surly demeanor was surely not missed.  
  
"Came to visit, have you?"  
  
His faraway voice seemed to shock her back into reality. She took a deep breath and looked up to face him, ignoring the sneer on his face, and the way he was gripping the phone so hard that it might break.  
  
"Yes. I have."  
  
He let of a burst of air and sat back, looking around at the other visitors suspiciously. Apprehensively, Dylan tried to follow his gaze. She knew he was searching the guests with his eyes, he knew she was hiding something. She just hoped he wouldn't see the fifteen year old with white blonde hair talking to a black man two booths over in a staged conversation. If he noticed anything he didn't show it, and he replaced the phone against his ear again.  
  
"You've brought someone."  
  
She stared at him, trying hard not to turn red both out of anger and embarrassment. She knew he could judge her emotions pretty well, but if it was that clear, then, well, she just wasn't good at this anymore. She knew he might be bluffing, so she put on a cool face and picked at her nails as if she didn't care.  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Yeah. Don't think I don't know you well enough to judge when you're hiding something. You're doing exactly what you did before you turned me in."  
  
"Really?" she said quietly, looking down at her nails and trying to act uninterested.  
  
"It's the blonde one, isn't it? Over there talking?"  
  
She froze, and by his bemused reaction she knew she couldn't hide it anymore without shaming herself. He knew now by her reaction.  
  
"Wanted her to know what she was up against, did you?"  
  
"Something like that." She braved a glance at him and found that he was mocking her again.  
  
"Adopted, isn't she? Can't exactly have a kid within two months, can you?"  
  
Dylan didn't answer, but looked over to where Leah was talking quietly with the other man. But glancing quickly back towards Dylan, Leah obviously got the picture. On her face was a mixture of confusion and quiet anger. Dylan hoped desperately that she'd look away before Shaemus had a chance to familiarize himself with her appearance, but she stood, quietly said goodbye to the man she was talking to, and walked over to stand behind Dylan, her hand on Dylan's shoulder.  
  
"Bold one, isn't she?" Shaemus remarked to Dylan, smiling almost sinisterly.  
  
Dylan rubbed her forehead vigorously, feeling older and stupider by the minute. She didn't want to be outdone in front of her own daughter, but at least Leah was getting the jist of his personality.  
  
"What's your name, then?" he went on, this time to Leah.  
  
"That's not important," Leah said defiantly, but she couldn't help feeling a little intimidated.  
  
"I think it is. Leah, isn't it?"  
  
Dylan stopped rubbing her forehead and started breathing heavily. She sat up and looked Shaemus in the eye. This was more than a random lucky guess.  
  
"How -- did -- you -- know?" she said forcibly, spitting out each word as if it were poison.  
  
"I have sources, Helen. I thought you knew."  
  
"What fucking sources can you have from a prison cell?"  
  
Dylan had attracted the guard's attention, and he came over, preventing Shaemus from replying, to Dylan's displeasure.  
  
"Is everything alright here?"  
  
Dylan allowed herself one last livid glare before pulling Leah away.  
  
"I -- will -- be -- back." she breathed, grunting force into each word. She wanted him to understand every word. 


	3. NOTICE

This chapter is screwed and won't let me update so this might not actually be on her or something else might be on here or whatever, okay? Read on! Woot! 


	4. NOTICE

They walked out of the prison and into the biting California sun. Dylan massaged her forehead, disappointed with herself for allowing her guard to be broken down by Shaemus, and in front of Leah, no less. She knew Leah didn't think she was weak, that she had majorly fouled in this area. But now she fully understood that Shaemus was dangerous. Vaguely, Dylan thought to herself that if anything would work to make her cautious, it would be seeing her tough as diamonds Dylan getting knocked down.  
  
Leah was running her hand absentmindedly along the chainlink fence as the walked towards Dylan's Chevelle in the parking lot, making a dull clinking sound as her fingers plucked on the metal. Dylan only barely noticed that they were already at her car. She opened up the car door and hopped in, hissing a little because the seat was warm from the sun. Leah pulled the door shut and they sped out of the parking lot, leaving rubber burn marks as Dylan always did.  
  
As they drove along the coastline and back towards L.A., Leah only stared out towards the ocean. Finally, she made as if to talk and turned around in her seat to face Dylan.  
  
"Why is he so different? Why couldn't you kick his ass like everyone else?"  
  
"Because he knows me better than any other villain ever would. It's not like I still love him and can't curt him, we're both fueled to kill each other by our undying anger. Does that make any sense?"  
  
"Not really sure."  
  
"But anyway, he can predict my moves and knows my personality, it's almost impossible to beat him. I wonder if I ever will."  
  
"I'm sure you will, Dylan," Leah murmured as she ran her fingers over the metal dogtags she always wore around her neck. "I know you will, someday."  
  
"Don't be so sure."  
  
"But when will I ever see him again?"  
  
"Hopefully never, but after another eight years, he'll be released again, so I probably can't promise you'll never see him. And even if you can't see him, he still has contacts, okay? That's how he knew your name. Even if he's stuck in prison, he's got friends that will try and attack you even now. The only thing I know is that they wouldn't kill me, because Shaemus wants to do that himself. Do you get now how complicated these things can be?"  
  
"I guess. But what about the hearing tomorrow?"  
  
"You aren't going."  
  
"But Dylan --"  
  
"You saw what he did to you today! He was cataloguing what you look like, what your personality is like, your weaknesses, your strengths, it's the same thing he did to me! I don't want him to get the upper hand on your life, he's already got pretty good control with mine. So just understand why I don't want you seeing him again, okay? Just trust me on this one."  
  
***  
  
Dylan scratched at the wooden oak whorls on her desk as the judge clunked his gavel against the desk. She felt Shaemus's eyes burning into her side, but she also felt her best friends at her back, supporting her. She knew they were behind her somewhere, watching the hearing quietly from a distance and observing any discrepancies they thought Dylan might miss because of her over passionate emotions.  
  
The judge glared around the courtroom and began to speak. "We are hear today to discuss the case of Shaemus McCollaugh O'Grady, and his lawyer's appeal for a shorter sentence…"  
  
Dylan picked at her nails. She knew that there was a chance Shaemus would get a shorter sentence, but she didn't think he'd get it. After all, why would the jury decide to let a convict from the Irish mob free, who'd already been in prison earlier, but let out out of mysterious causes? It was a no-brainer, they'd deny the appeal and she could breath again.  
  
But then Shaemus's lawyer stood up and began to speak. "The appeal for my client states that the sentence of eight years shall be shortened to two months, with parole available after two weeks."  
  
Dylan felt her mouth drop. What in God's name did they think would happen? An eight year sentence shortened to two months? They were on drugs, she was sure of it, or overly confident. There was a bit of murmuring throughout the courtroom. The judge spoke up again.  
  
"Order! We will present the new pieces of evidence that the defendants think will change the outcome of the case, and then the jurors will deliberate and come back for a second hearing." 


	5. NOTICE

*AN* Sorry about the last one, if it's still there. Meant that to go on CA3, but oh well, I was distracted… But anyway, I saw FT again! Woot! Awesome! Keep readin' !**  
  
After the preliminary hearing, Natalie, Dylan and Alex conferred.  
  
"Two weeks?! How in hell did he manage that?!"  
  
"Calm down, Dylan, I'm phoning Leah and Bosley. They'll be able to search around for intel while we tune in to the second hearing. I'll set up a radio link…"  
  
"Thanks, Alex."  
  
Natalie fiddled with something in her purse and finally drew out a handful of black wires.  
  
"Aha!"  
  
"You keep those in your purse?"  
  
"Sure do!"  
  
She connected them to Alex's cell phone and beamed at the both of them.  
  
"We're in business! Let 'em come. You hear that, Leah? Bos?"  
  
She could barely hear Leah's reply through Nat's happy squeals. It made her feel a little better.  
  
"Woot! We'll show that Irish prat who's boss!"  
  
But just then 'that Irish prat' was led out of a secure room by a couple surly looking guards. They pushed him past the Angels to the door of the courtroom, but not before he paused right in Dylan's face.  
  
"I'd be careful if I were you, Helen. Two weeks, you're MINE." he spat at her in a lilting accent.  
  
She grimaced and watched him being dragged back into the courtroom before raising Alex's cellphone to her ear again.  
  
"Leah? You still there?" There was a pause.  
  
"How'd you ever like him?"  
  
***  
  
While Dylan took her seat back at the plaintiff's table, of course accompanied by Alex's cellphone and Nat's purse of wires, Alex dialed up Bosley on Dylan's phone. Natalie got a chance to look around the courtroom before the judge hit his gavel twice upon his desk. It rang through the room for a minute before everyone came to attention.  
  
"Right," said the judge, standing up. "We are ready to begin."  
  
Looking around again, Natalie noticed Alex wasn't the only one on a cellphone. A kid in the corner was conversing quietly, his head turned the other way. But when the jurors stood, he turned to attention and placed his phone on a bookshelf to the side. Natalie guessed quite correctly that he had a radio link as well. And that meant someone on Shaemus's side was listening.  
  
"Look!" she nudged Alex, who took a picture of the back of the boy's head with her camera phone. But the boy's attention had, apparently, been directed somewhere else. His head turned quickly and unexpectedly, but Alex managed to snap a picture. Natalie, however, gasped. An almost perfect replica of a younger Shaemus stared back at her. She could only wonder.  
  
Dylan had noticed as well, through curious side glances. She gasped and looked back at the desk in front of her. Nervously, she tapped the cellphone/radio on the table and leaned over to talk into it as if she were inspecting some papers.  
  
"Guess what, Le'… Looks like the 'Irish prat''s got a brother…. And he looks about your age… I can't wait to let you kick his ass, hon…"  
  
Before she could listen for Leah's reply, however, the jurors had managed their papers and had begun to speak. What she supposed was the head juror, a twitchy Asian man, rustled some papers and shifted on his feet. She noticed the papers slipping in his sweaty hands.  
  
"We, the jury," he croaked, then cleared his throat. "Wethejurifendefendenatspeala" he said, releasing it all in one breath. Alex and Natalie goggled. What? A fellow juror nabbed the man in the stomach and took the papers. She pushed cherry red hair behind her ear and coughed lightly.  
  
"We, the jury," she said slowly, "find the defendant's appeal legal in all cases and approved by all 12 members of this jury."  
  
Dylan felt as if she'd been pushed in the face. What? This day was full of surprises, but what exactly did she mean? But watching Shaemus's head swivel around to face hers from the defendant's desk, she knew what it meant. She watched him mouth the words 'two weeks' and felt her insides freeze. In two weeks, he'd be released from prison and let loose on the streets. And more importantly, loosed on her.  
  
She barely heard the judge's ringing gavel, nor saw Shaemus O'Grady's triumphant smirk. She shoved the cellphone into the purse and ran out of the room, kicking open the heavy wooden doors. She heard Shaemus's distant laugh but didn't care. How many people did he have to bribe? There were twelve jurors, and they all had unanimously agreed that he should be let out. What was going on? She had begun to loose absolute faith in the legal system, not that she didn't doubt it before.  
  
"Adjourned!"  
  
***  
  
Natalie and Alex, meanwhile, were occupied. They shoved their equipment into their bags and discretely began to follow the teenage boy Shaemus out of the building. No matter how hard they tried, they knew he must have known anyway. And so they were cautious, looking out for any flying Irishmen. But they got nothing, and the boy disappeared close to where they had found Shaemus and crew only two months prior.  
  
"Shit! We are having no luck today! None at all!"  
  
Livid, Alex slammed her hand onto the hull of a nearby tanker ship, only bringing it back painfully, ignoring the dull thud her punch had made.  
  
"Ow! Nat, what are we going to do? Dylan's really going to leave this time, I know she is!"  
  
Before Natalie could say anything, a youthful Irish voice growled from behind them.  
  
"Don't be so sure. I have a feeling you two might be the first to leave…"  
  
Turning around, Natalie and Alex found themselves facing an arsenal of weapons, all pointed at their heads by various men, safe to say, they were Irish. And mini Shaemus was there to, right in front -- he was the one who had spoken. But another man, bulky and chock full of muscle, came up aside him.  
  
"We can't kill you just yet, so get your skinny asses out of here!" he grunted.  
  
Natalie risked a look over at her friend, even though a machine gun was leveled at her temple.  
  
"I think it's safe to say they didn't learn from last time!"  
  
Alex nodded. "Let the ass kicking begin!"  
  
*** 


	6. NOTICE

Where was she, really? Jamming the clutch on her car and pulling into the brake position, she threw herself out of the car, her toes immediately experiencing warm, luxurious sand. She sighed, and slammed her car door shut. Maybe she did need time to relax, as all her friends told her. But returning to the previous question, where was she? In life? She suddenly realized that no, she didn't just not give a fuck, she actually cared. Where would she go from here? The last time Shaemus got out she didn't even know, nonetheless acknowledge it until she actually saw him.  
  
'Only God will judge me,' was written on his back. Well he obviously wasn't meant to die just yet, or otherwise he wouldn't have survived. A smothered ring came from her purse. She dove into it, spilling obnoxious black wires. She set the purse and wires down on the hood of her car, pulled out the wires, and answered the phone on the fifth ring.  
  
"Well I was beginning to think you wouldn't answer!"  
  
"Sorry, Le', I'm a little stressed."  
  
"What's the deal? I hear waves… you've obviously left the courtroom, then. Natalie or Alex with you?"  
  
"No, why? What about them?"  
  
"Oh, nothing… just when I called an Irish thug answered their phones…"  
  
"Oh no." Suddenly waves and sun didn't appeal to her anymore. Something terrible had happened, and now the thought of it made her collapsed into a car seat and start up the engine.  
  
"Yeah, right. That's why I was calling. Do you know if they're in trouble or not?"  
  
"I don't know anything, but they must have followed mini Shaemus."  
  
"The hot one?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Well, I'm assuming then that they ran into a mob of Irish thugs and are now kicking their asses. Don't worry, I bet they'll only have a few bruises by the end of it. Faith, man!"  
  
"Shut UP, Leah! We have to find them!"  
  
"No! Dylan! Wait! Look from a distance, you know what I mean? And I think your phone was tapped."  
  
"Was?"  
  
"Well, you switched phones, right?"  
  
"Oh."  
  
"So, you'd better not get involved. I know they wouldn't kill Natalie or Alex, not that they'd get the chance, especially because YOU'RE NOT THERE. Come on, Dylan, use your noodle. What do you think?"  
  
"I think you're crazy, but smart in a weird, weird way."  
  
"Hey, that's why I'm here!"  
  
"And God, am I glad… Leah? LEAH!"  
  
***  
  
The phone dropped from her hand, swinging from its cord as it hung off the side of the kitchen counter.  
  
"Mini - Shaemus," she managed to make out before collapsing to the floor, tenderly pulling a tranquilizer dart out of her shoulder.  
  
"Eech…" She grunted and pushed herself up to her knees, looking around warily, but got a surprise from behind by what could only be Shaemus's brother. Even from a first glance, she knew it had to be him. The eyes were the same, as were the mouth, the nose, the voice… He grabbed her by the neck and threw her against the counter, his eyes inches from hers, his breath swelling in her face.  
  
"Well it looks like someone wasn't expecting me…"  
  
***  
  
"Leah! LEAH!" She slammed her hand on the side of her car. "FUCK!"  
  
With a screech, she sped out of the small concrete overlay, leaving dark rubber tire marks on the road behind her. There was nothing she could do but go see if Leah was okay. She just had to trust that her fellow Angels were alright, and that no one was going to attack HER.  
  
But sure enough, from a high cliff overlooking the road and the beach, a machine gun was focused on the retreating convertible.  
  
***  
  
Leah looked in horror at her attacker. Why the fuck was she home alone when her adoptive mother's stalker was loose on the world and looking for revenge?! She grunted and tried to pry his fingers away from her throat, but it was no use. Savage green eyes were all she could see, and there was nothing she could do about it. But the tranquilizer was beginning to work, and even green eyes were slipping away from her as her vision blurred… 


	7. NOTICE

For all her troubles, Leah awoke with an aching head and a strong bout of seasickness. Now where was she? She coughed violently and tried, feebly, to get to her feet, but a rather splayed quarter lotus position was all she could manage, a weak pile of body on the floor. Groaning, she noticed her vision had returned, but those same green eyes were back, doubly meaning that mini Shaemus was also back. And indeed, there he was, laughing cruelly in her face.  
  
"You sick bastard."  
  
He gave her a sinister smirk and stood up from the wooden crate he had been sitting on before. He gestured around.  
  
"Where do you think you are?" he asked her, in a less prominent Irish accent, not as heavy as Shaemus's.  
  
"Like I'd know…." she looked around cautiously and finally gave him a meek answer. "In a boat…?"  
  
"I'd call it an illegal tanker ship, but you know, whatever works for you…"  
  
And yes, it was the same ship 'Merkin', but Leah didn't know that. She only saw she was surrounded by wooden crates chained to the floor and high chainlink walls. He went on.  
  
"And the reason I'm here," he chucked a small piece of something at the walls and it made a small explosion of blue sparks before it lay sizzling on the ground. "… is so you don't," he chucked something else and it, too, got fried, "… hurt yourself."  
  
"Let me ask you something."  
  
A little surprised at her vulgarity and boldness for someone who was just knocked out and abducted, he turned around suspiciously.  
  
"For one, what's your name? Secondly, where are we, and what the fuck am I doing here?"  
  
He took a minute to think to himself before he answered. "Aeneas O'Grady. And you're in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean, a little past Hawaii."  
  
"Wait- let me get this straight. We're in the middle of the ocean? Why?"  
  
"Well we're not just sitting here," he said, picking at a scab on his thumb, "We're going somewhere?"  
  
"Where -- are -- we -- going?"  
  
"Japan."  
  
"Japan?? But I thought you were --"  
  
"Irish? Well, uh, obviously, but that doesn't mean we're going there. We're delivering a shipment, and you just… came along."  
  
"Bullshit."  
  
"It's true."  
  
Before she could start throwing swear words at him, his cellphone began to ring. He looked around for minute, then retrieved it from behind a large crate.  
  
"Dia duit?"  
  
Leah used the opportunity to push herself to her feet by means of a crate. She listened bitterly as Aeneas, or whatever his name was, talked quickly and animatedly in partial Irish and English. She sighed and sat herself on top of a crate like he had and looked around.  
  
Through the chainlink, she could see the ship's inner hull, and other crates that were obviously bound for Japan. 'MERKIN' was stamped on many of them, and she soon deducted that it had to be the ship's name because she was almost positive that there was no town in Japan named Merkin.  
  
"Oy!"  
  
His voice brought her out of her pondering and she instinctively caught the cellphone he'd thrown at her.  
  
"Your mum wants to talk to you."  
  
"My mum. She's my adoptive mother, merci bocoup, and why is she talking to me through your phone?"  
  
"Because she's with Shaemus."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Just talk to her," he growled and she did what he said.  
  
"Dylan?"  
  
"Leah! Thank god, I knock the shit out of him if he were lying…"  
  
"What's going on?"  
  
"Where are you?"  
  
"Somewhere in the middle of the ocean, going towards--" but she was cut off by Aeneas leveling a rusty axe at her throat.  
  
"Don't say anything about where we are or where we are going." he warned.  
  
Leah ignored him and coolly pushed the axe away from her neck.  
  
"Yeah, well, Aeneas is being an ass, so anyway…"  
  
"Aeneas?"  
  
"Yeah, replica, remember?"  
  
"Ah…"  
  
"So what's the deal?"  
  
"Well isn't that the question… I had to make a small one of those," Leah could tell that she was censoring what she said so Shaemus wouldn't understand, "with Shaemus so that this piece of shit will give you back…."  
  
"Wait, what? No! Don't do that, what deal??"  
  
"It's a long story, but it won't come to play anyway. Just keep your eyes open, okay? I'll be seeing you soon, love you…" Leah listened as Shaemus took his phone back while Aeneas tried to pry her fingers off his cellphone.  
  
"Shaemus? Da, Slán go fóill." He ended the call and stuffed the phone into a small duffle on top of one of the crates.  
  
"What's going on?"  
  
He smiled mischievously and brought a pacifist out of his bag. (a second meaning, not someone opposed to violence as a means of settling disputes ) He threw it against the chainlink, near the control box, and the electric current died around it.  
  
"You'll see."  
  
He reached an arm carefully through the chainlink and unlocked the large mechanical door from the outside. With a couple quick maneuvers, the door grated on its metal slides and rose into the air. Leah bit her lip and tried to put the procedure to memory, but Aeneas pulled her off the crate and out of the mechanical door. 


	8. NOTICE

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**  
  
Yes, I know, Dylan-focused. SO WHAT! Bwaah... Did it just thunder? Whooa, oh yes it did. [scared now] But I be on a trip to OH, so I write on Dad's laptop in the car, then post when I can plug it in at the hotel. So don't expect any updativeness 'til night. And yeah. But don't you worry, it'll come.  
  
And also, this will eventually be D-H/S and possssibbbly L/A. That wouldn't be gross would it? I hope it isn't. Please tell me before I write it because it has a minor tendency to be eew, with the okay. Done talking. The original story in me head... didn't work. But I'll tell you what it was.  
  
It was supposedly CA3: The Next Generation. (You saw me start on that other one) It was kind of hard to picture them all pregnant, so I decided that Dylan'd adopt, Alex would borrow their cousin's son, and Natalie would have kids. But they couldn't really do that in two months, could they? And then it was completely Dylan/Leah/Aeneas/Shaemus centered. And completed snogging. But Dylan wouldn't do that... etc. But we'll see.  
  
More coming soon on the grand plot of things, if I can figure out what that'll be. Oooh! Brain bubble! We'll just have to think a bit...  
  
-tortuga (bex321 on FP)  
  
and DUH the thunder is fireworks 


	9. NOTICE

"Okay," Dylan eyed Shaemus warily as he stowed the phone in his rear jeans pocket. "Now that you are done chatting, where exactly is my daughter?"  
  
He looked at her momentarily, one of those looks he has with one eyebrow raised. "You're shittin' me… Like I'd tell you," he slammed her into a concrete wall and her eyes rolled back in pain. "When I know if you knew where she was, you'd go get her yourself." He pulled back his arm and let her wobble to the glass table, where she supported herself long enough to regulate her breathing.  
  
Her eyes searched the paper on the table, old maps, computer paper, nothing she could use. In the whole room there was nothing. It was a small concrete room with peeling white wash walls, something you'd see anywhere. But this was supposedly Shaemus's office for the time being.  
  
He, meanwhile, was leaned suavely against a wall, smacking a rolled up copy of the contract against his hand. In an impulsive movement that she could hardly control, Dylan launched herself across the table and finally landed in front Shaemus, slamming him against the wall with a well placed kick. She kept her foot there and kept him against the wall, breathing heavily all the while.  
  
"Want this, do you?" he waved the contract in her face but she didn't dare reach for it.  
  
"Wish you didn't sign it I bet. I wouldn't have signed it. Who WOULD sign their life away?"  
  
She led her leg slide down until she was back on two feet. He stared her down, but she looked away, almost embarrassed. "Why did I sign it?" She pushed her hair away from her face and sat on top of the glass table.  
  
Shaemus moved around the table so that he was sitting in front of her and put his hands on her knees.  
  
"Well, you signed it. So too bad is all I can say. C'mon," he motioned for the door, "we have to go." But he didn't let her slide off the table, no. He picked her up by the waist and flung her over his shoulder, she was much lighter than most people would probably guess.  
  
"Shaemus…" she said warningly.  
  
"Come off it Helen, there's nothing you can do about it now. You just better hope you don't get killed…"  
  
"Shaemus--"  
  
He slapped her butt and carried her out the door and down the metal steps to the docking bay. Dylan, meanwhile, was not enjoying this loss to her pride. Shaemus stopped at her Camaro and popped open the trunk.  
  
"You're not--"  
  
"I am."  
  
He roughly, yet still carefully in a way, flung her down into the trunk. With a hand on the top of it and ready to slam it shut, he paused to look at Dylan.  
  
"Why do you have to lock me in my own trunk?"  
  
"Because that's the way I do things, Helen, I thought you knew."  
  
"Too true."  
  
He would have shut the trunk already but remembered something, and Dylan was still sitting up, anyway. He sighed.  
  
"Where are they?"  
  
She blinked. "Where do you think?"  
  
He stared at her face for a minute before his eyes fell lower. "You really haven't changed." He made a move for her but she promptly raised her foot in his face to block him. "Don't you dare. If you haven't figured it out, I don't really like you anymore."  
  
"Well that's your problem, not mine," and he promptly retrieved her car keys from her favorite storage place, her bra.  
  
"Son of bit--"  
  
He put a hand to her mouth and pushed her into the trunk, throwing a headset in after her and slamming the door down, hard. He knew she wouldn't want to put it on, but curiosity would drive her to. He grabbed a headset himself and settled himself into her warm carseat. He opened his laptop on the passenger seat and started the program that would connect the two head phones via short distance radio.  
  
"How you doing back there?"  
  
"Bastard."  
  
"I should have included verbal assault in the contract…"  
  
Dylan was thrown against one side of the trunk as Shaemus drove out of one of the main ship's hull, leaving rubber tire marks on the ground behind just as she did.  
  
"You included enough! Where are we going?"  
  
"Airport," she heard him grunt before his merging onto the interstate sent her roughly against the side of the trunk again. 


	10. NOTICE

Tuesday, 3 days prior….  
  
(AT&T belongs to AT&T, not to me, hey that rhymes! And Ray's and Al's Towing Services belong to themselves, if they exist. Mere prop deviations, nothing to worry about…)  
  
Alex watched with narrow eyes as the replica of Dylan's worst enemy disappeared through the crowd along with a few heavily armed thugs. She knew there was nothing they could do about it- they had to take care of the twenty or so other guys who had swarmed out of the ship at their coming.  
  
She and Natalie got into their familiar kung-fu pose, even though they were one short. Though without Dylan, they obviously managed fine. Soon there was a pile of moaning and groaning sailors on the boardwalk, and Alex and Natalie walked right back out to their cars. While driving as fast as they could along the precarious curves of the sea view highway, they conversed over the cellphone.  
  
"Do you think Dylan will be at her house when we get there?"  
  
"I hope she will, she turned off her cellphone after the hearing and I assumed she needed space, but the only way we'll be able to reach her if she's been attacked is if her cellphone is on."  
  
"Yeah, but Alex, weren't you going to dinner with Jason tonight?"  
  
"Well, yeah, but this is Dylan's life, Natalie, I'll call him in a minute and tell him duty calls once again. I hope he'll understand."  
  
"I'm sure he will, but listen; I've just pulled up a file of Shaemus, and upon investigating his family tree, he has seven brothers, but one is dead and three are in prison, leaving three out of jail and active in the crime community. Two of them are already wanted for some offenses, but one of them is a juvenile- thus the only one that matches our guy."  
  
"And he is…?"  
  
"Aeneas Corrigan O'Grady, 15. Black hair, green eyes, Irish, slight accent, wanted only to be taken out of his brothers' protective custody. Shaemus is listed as his official guardian but Gillian is supposedly the second in running."  
  
"So, we have a name. I wonder if we could get his number through operator?"  
  
"We could try, but it says here that the FBI and local police had a hell of a time even trying to contact Paddy, their brother-in-law. I don't know if we'll get the scoop on any of them without meeting them firsthand."  
  
"They were probably those guys with Aeneas earlier…"  
  
"Yeah! Whoa, wish we could have kicked their ass then…"  
  
"Just a minute, Nat! My pager is beeping…."  
  
"Ditto!"  
  
"Hold on, call ya back!"  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hey? Natalie's phone!"  
  
"Guys?"  
  
"Dylan!"  
  
"DYLAN! You're alive!"  
  
"Yep, bad as ever, why? You guys are alright, aren't you?!"  
  
"Yeah, but we ran into some creeps…"  
  
"Irish creeps…"  
  
"Oh no- did they follow you?"  
  
"Nah, we followed them."  
  
"Er… yeah. Followed the Replica."  
  
"The Repli- oh…. That mini Shaemus guy!"  
  
"Yeah, turns out he's his brother. Shaemus is his sole guardian. Partners in crime, I bet."  
  
"Uh oh. Well then, that said, will you come and pick me up? I'm on Route 40, by the cove with the purple seagulls, you know the one."  
  
"Oh, good deal, you're sort of…. close… If I push the speed limit, we'll be there in 5 minutes, tops."  
  
"Good, but make it fast. Someone blew out my tires, a sniper from the cliffs. I went a while on my wheels but then gave up. I called a tow truck but now I'm walking back towards the cove."  
  
"Good, where were you headed anyway?"  
  
"Home…"  
  
"Oh."  
  
"No, I just… oh… so busy with the tires I forgot to mention it, how could I… oh well, um, Nat or Alex? Could one of you check out my house?"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"All I know is that one minute she was talking to me and the next, she wasn't. I think I heard her say Shaemus, though, but he's still at the prison until he's let out on parole tomorrow. I took it to mean that Analass guy…"  
  
"Aeneas?"  
  
"Uh, yeah, but I think Leah's gone."  
  
"Leah?! Dear god, she's missing?!"  
  
"Really? Oh, Dylan…. I'll go check it out straightaway, Alex, you pick up Dylan before something happens to her, too…."  
  
"Yeah, we're coming upon the spot. Natalie- you pull ahead of me and keep on going to Dylan's house."  
  
"Yeah, talk to you guys later…"  
  
"Thanks, guys, thanks so much… I'm so worried, now that it's all coming back. It's just when the tires… went… I blanked out I guess. Hurry, guys, please!"  
  
Both of their phones clicked so that all Dylan could hear was the empty, lonely dial tone. A computer voice rattled of a message in her ear, 'if you'd like to make a call, enter the number and press send. If you'd like to talk to AT&T's operator, press 00..." She flipped it closed and sat on the guardrail sheltered by the tall cliffs. Cars sped past her and she was tempted to hitchhike, but knew her friends would be along soon to take care of her. Indeed, the tow truck was coming around the corner rather quickly. Quicker, though, than she supposed most tow trucks went. She decidedly thought to herself that she'd give the driver a big tip when he came- speed is always a good thing to have in business…  
  
And it came up to the curb, Ray's Towing Service. The driver hopped out in a uniform matching his car and began to walk around his truck while Dylan stared absent-mindedly at the logo on the truck's side. With a jolt, she realized that she'd called Al's Speedy Towing, not Ray's Towing Service… Was that significant or not?  
  
But apparently it was. 


	11. NOTICE

WEDNESDAY, mid morning…  
  
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(Endless gibberish: this chapter is a day after the last chapter but two days before the chapters before that because it said three days prior and everything, you know that was Friday and all and blah blah blah…)  
  
(for the thicker ones… -kidding, not even I can understand what I just wrote up there- You know the last chapter, stupidly entitled 'Three days prior'? Well, that was three days prior to Friday, and this present story is two days prior, and thus this takes place the morning after the tow-truck/Replica incident. Make sense? If it doesn't, just leave a review and I'll fix it.)  
  
But just to note, I just ate a batch of moldy strawberries because… I was sleepy and -er- didn't know they were moldy…. And um…. Yeah…..  
  
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"Urg…" Dylan was not a morning person, and that was quite evident. With a groan, she tried to push herself up, only to not succeed and fall harmlessly back onto the worn couch. With a clammy hand, she reached up to relieve her sweaty forehead. And by instinct, when she heard her cell ring, she reached into the depths of her back pocket, only to find that it wasn't there. Immediately alert, Dylan's minor injuries didn't seem to plague her anymore.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
She knew that voice. She knew that voice so well. But was she dreaming? Why was she hearing it now? And then, her vision still cloudy, she cast a disgruntled but wary look around the room, and pulled herself to sitting position.  
  
"Good morning, Helen." With a flick of her strawberry blonde hair, Dylan desperately searched the room, to find Shaemus standing at the side of the couch, his hand deeply rooted in her hair to prevent her from rising. But as he said this, he bent over to inspect her painfully cautious and alert face, cellphone still perched on his ear. He gave a savage smile, one she did not return, and shoved her bubblegum pink cellphone into her hand.  
  
"Your girlfriends want a word with you."  
  
Cautiously, she raised the phone to her ear, trying to figure out where she was all the while. But Shaemus had closed the door and blocked the window, all she could see was a well furnished, yet battered, old room with dusty bookshelves. Some machinery sounds could be heard even through the thick wooden door.  
  
"Dylan! Are you alright? Where are you?"  
  
Pausing a minute, she surveyed her injuries. Nothing serious, just a bit of blood trickling down from somewhere on her forehead, a few cuts on her arms, and a slash from what seemed to be a small knife imbedded on the side of her stomach. Slowly, she replied to Natalie's eager voice.  
  
"Hey Nat…" she ignored the gun raised to her temple, she knew what that meant. 'Don't say anything bad and I won't have to shoot you.' Of course he didn't actually say it, but it was implied.  
  
"I'm… somewhere. Not too badly injured, can't remember anything…" Shaemus's handgun was pushed harder into her temple, and she cursed vividly.  
  
"Fuck off Shaemus, I'm on the phone!" she swatted the gun away and turned to face him, propping herself up with an elbow on the side. He gave her a malevolent grin that betrayed both love and hate, something she hadn't seen much before.   
  
"I know you wouldn't shoot me, so don't try."  
  
"DO you know I wouldn't shoot you?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Fine then, you clever girl…" he checked the safety and chucked the gun across the room, where it landed with a soft thump on an armchair about ten feet away from where Dylan was sitting. Reluctantly, she brought the phone to her ear again, but kept her eyes glued to Shaemus. She knew he had something else in mind.  
  
"Natalie?"  
  
"Hey! Are you still alive?"  
  
"Yes, Natalie."  
  
"Cool! So where are you, exactly?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"Well that helps."  
  
"I'm sure it does."  
  
She didn't know why she was being sarcastic with her rescuers and friends, but maybe she was just grumpy. Shaemus, however, seemed to have noticed and was smiling bitterly to himself.  
  
"Well, we'll try to find you, but I don't know how we--"  
  
"Are you done yet?"  
  
"NO. Put a book to your ear and pretend it's a phone."  
  
With a growl he slammed himself down on the couch, one hand around Dylan's throat and the other reaching for her cellphone. She grimaced and tried to breathe, but held one of her arms all the way back to prevent him from getting it back.  
  
"Give -- it -- back!" he snarled.  
  
She couldn't help but feel like they were little seven year olds, fighting over a toy. Things were always so awkward and strained around each other. With interest, she noticed he wasn't so interested in killing her anymore, only severely injuring her and knocking her unconscious and taking her cellphone. And that wasn't so bad, she was expecting that.  
  
She threw the phone over to the armchair, where it landed quietly beside Shaemus' handgun. Growling, his head swiveled around and targeted the landing spot of the cellphone. She kicked him off of her and they both stumbled towards the armchair, each pushing the other out of the way, to get to the gun and cellphone first…  
  
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Tell me, was that corny? I just wanted to know. 


	12. NOTICE

****************************  
  
YAY! I love reviewers! And yes, punk freak, hyper bunny, I will write faster now, but for the past two days ff.net wouldn't let me view the site! Aaargh… very weird. But let me see here. Story, story… where was I going with this? Ah! Okay. And note to Kathleen O'Grady- thank you! I've been a bit flustered lately because I found sometimes I had better writing skills than published adults… tsk tsk… well anyway, lol, sorry, hyper… okay. Story. Right. Here we go.  
  
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IF YOU ARE A GUY I WOULDN'T SUGGEST READING THIS.  
  
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"I came as quick as I-- Oh no…" Alex's voice trailed off as she surveyed the wreckage of Dylan's high rise apartment. Furniture was broken, the phone was left hanging off the hook, things were pushed off the counter, it was a mess. There were even bullet holes splattered against the walls haphazardly.  
  
Natalie, was sitting on one of the swivel chairs at the counter, the only one that wasn't knocked over. Her head was in her hands and her shallow breathing suggested that she was crying. Natalie raised her head and looked over at Alex. Her eyes were red and her nose was running freely.  
  
"She must have put up some fight, huh? Both of them? Dylan… gone?"  
  
Alex picked up a matching red diner chair and put in place next to Natalie's. She rubbed her back soothingly, and Natalie's head fell over to rest on Alex's shoulder. Alex hugged her tight, and soon her hushed sobs burst through her brave persona.  
  
"We'll… find her. They won't kill her. No they won't. She'll be alright…" she said mostly to comfort herself through the sobs.  
  
"C'mon. Let's get to work."  
  
***  
  
Alex and Natalie called in LAPD reinforcements, but the two of them led the investigation. Alex had asked to question Shaemus before he was released, but he had already been let out and they didn't where he went off to.  
  
Looking around desperately for evidence, Alex almost missed a little bit of fresh blood on the knocked over couch. The photographers had already been through, so the investigators could look around carefully. Alex collected a bit of the blood for a DNA sample. There was almost no discernible evidence along the highway, and witnesses would be hard if not impossible to find. So Dylan's house was their only lead.  
  
Sighing, Alex reassured herself that maybe the blood belonged to one of the thugs and not Leah. Then they'd have some start. She popped the sample in a test tube and gave it to Natalie.   
  
"Could you have that analyzed, Nat?" The blonde nodded and headed out of the apartment into the high rise's parking lot, where a CSI van was parked. She knocked four times on the door and said her name loudly.  
  
"Natalie Cook, Private Investigator."  
  
She waited, and then a mousy looking man opened the door suspiciously so that only his nose and eyes could be seen through the crack. He studied her for a minute in a geeky kind of way, but Natalie was just staring off into space, used to this creepy CSI man.  
  
"Are you alone?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Are you a spy?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Yes," she said, beginning to get agitated.  
  
"Really sure?"  
  
"YES. If I really were a spy, why would I tell you anyway?!"  
  
The mousy man, who was just in the process of opening the door, froze, then slammed it solidly in her face.  
  
"Hey! Thanks a lot!" Natalie screeched a little too girlishly. She could feel a couple eyes on her from the rest of the parking lot. She looked around as if nothing was wrong, then focused back in on the van, not caring that she was staring at her own reflection because of the tinted windows. She pointed a finger warningly and shook it in what she supposed was his face, if he was even watching.  
  
"Hey, my friend just got abducted by a bunch of Irish thugs, and if you don't open this damn car door I'm going to kick it until the whole van falls over!" She stopped for breath, her shoulders heaving. "and if you think this gives you the right to--" The door opened and the mousy man peeked his nose through to get another word in.  
  
"I seriously doubt you could--" But his voice was cut off by a shrill shriek, and he pulled the door open haphazardly as he rolled out of the vehicle, clutching his nose and rubbing it disturbingly. Natalie knew she shouldn't have smiled at this, but after she replayed shutting the door on his nose, she just smiled anyway. She would do anything for her friends.  
  
***  
  
"Here you go, Alex." Natalie, hyper and smiling again, bounced around on her feet a little and then handed Alex the tube. She gave her a clipboard. "And here's the comparison of blood types and DNA! As you can see, this is Dylan's blood! Dylan came back here!" She bounced around some more, just for the heck of it.  
  
"But what- wait. Hmmm…" and she started to think pretty hard, but Natalie's bouncing was pushing her to the limit. Alex eyed her as if she were mad. She didn't see why there was a reason to be excessively happy, even if she'd just won two billion dollars, no tax included. "Why are you so happy?"  
  
"Oh! This is why!" Hopping on one foot with endless energy, she waved a plastic bag in front of Alex's face. Alex snatched it edgily, wondering what could make someone so happy, because she knew 2 billion dollars wouldn't fit in a Ziploc. But Natalie looked about to explode. "Go ahead! Look at it!"  
  
And Alex did. "A TSQ tank 4589 sniper dart?"  
  
"YES!!!"  
  
"Uh… what does that--- oh. OH." And it seemed for a minute that all expression had been wiped off of Alex's face. Then, barely letting herself hope, she put out a question for Natalie, just to make sure her assumption was right.  
  
"Don't worry, it took me a long time, too."  
  
Alex's eyes narrowed and she looked to Natalie, who'd stopped hopping. "So that means tranquilizer was used…?"  
  
"YES! You got it! They weren't out for a kill!"  
  
"But the bullets in the wall?"  
  
"Look!" she pulled Alex over to the wall, which Alex hadn't had the time to check. "A lead investigator pointed me to these!"  
  
And Alex looked. Natalie was right, there was something different. If you looked carefully, you could see a couple drips of red liquid on some of them. Squibs. And some others on the ceiling and counter, blanks. So they weren't out to kill…  
  
***********************  
  
"I don't get it. I thought you wanted to kill me."  
  
"I do want to kill you. Obviously."  
  
"Oh. Then why… haven't you?"  
  
Shaemus looked up from where he was jotting things down on a yellow notepad. His eyes narrowed and he threw the notepad aside, onto a nearby desk. Then he sighed and stood, advancing on where Dylan was sitting, tied to a sturdy industrial chair. He sat himself on her lap and started tracing Dylan's jaw with his gun. She squirmed and tried to wriggle her hands free for the thousandth time.  
  
"You sound as if you want me to kill you." he said almost absently mindedly, but still his eyes digging into Dylan's.  
  
"It'd put me out of my misery, that's for sure." she spit out at him.  
  
"Right. Well, it's your choice." He holstered his gun in his back pocket and sighed. He looked away as if searching for something else to amuse him, directing his attention to the dark wooden walls, the large crates and boxes surrounding them.  
  
"Why are you even keeping me here if you aren't going to kill me?! It sounds like a shitty plan to me."  
  
"Now," he grabbed her chin and stared into her eyes. "Don't you insult my evil plans, Helen… you know it'll all come out in the end." and he kissed her roughly and deeply, slamming her head back and making her cry out in anguish and defeat. Finally he pulled back, pushed himself off her lap as if it was a saddle, then wiped away the small tears that that had streamed down her face.  
  
"You piece of shit." she spit at him, but he didn't bother to step away, or wipe the spit from his bare feet. "You are a cowardly piece -- of -- shit."  
  
"Now Helen," he looked at her with genuine sarcasm. "If you hadn't almost killed ME I wouldn't have tied you up. You do understand that, don't you? Besides… I'm not done with you yet."  
  
"I'm sure." she lunged at him, as far as she could with being tied to a chair, and he recoiled, but still looked unaffected.  
  
"Well, it's almost two AM. Would you rather sleep on the floor or in the chair?" he started emptying out his pockets onto the side table that brushed against Dylan's right arm.  
  
"Bastard."  
  
"Well, I'm giving you a choice here. But either way, I'll have to take my own precautions…" he withdrew his gun, Dylan's lighter, and a switchblade, which he flicked open.  
  
"Fucking bastard."  
  
He looked at her, but that was what she wanted. She painfully threw her body against the table, smashing the table and sending the things on top sprawling. Shaemus lunged at her with his switchblade, but she kicked at it in an attempt to stop it from slashing at her. She pushed away from the way, he hands skidding painfully as the chair slide across the smooth floor so that the end of the switchblade landed in Dylan's bound, but outstretched hands. She swiped at her bonds and rolled off of the chair, switchblade ready in her hand.  
  
Shaemus gave her a look that silently acknowledged that he'd underestimated her, then he brought a Swiss Army knife out from another cargo pocket. He grasped it firmly in his fist and then bared his teeth, charging.  
  
*******  
  
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More soon! 


	13. NOTICE

By soon I mean Saturday (at the earliest). sorry for the wait! 


End file.
